Smoking Bishop and other Dickensian drinks

5 oranges * 1 grapefruit * 1/4 lb sugar * 2 bottles red wine * 1 bottle ruby port * 30 cloves

Bake the oranges and grapefruit in the oven until they are pale brown and then put them into a warmed earthenware bowl with five cloves pricked into each. Add the sugar and pour in the wine. Then, either (i) cover and leave in a warm place for a day, or (ii) warm the mixture gently (do not boil) for about three hours. Squeeze the oranges and grapefruit into the wine and pour it through a sieve. Add the port and heat (again, don't boil). Serve in warmed cups/glasses and drink hot.

Mike G wrote:A smoking bishop?

The Daily Herald* wrote:Classic hot drinks

Blue blazer: The celebrated 19th-century mixologist Professor Jerry Thomas was known for this pyrotechnic wintertime drink. His original directions, set forth in his 1862 guide "How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion," call for two silver-plated mugs. Putting sugar, boiling water and a double shot of Scotch whisky in one vessel, Thomas would set the mixture afire and, while it blazed, pour it back and forth between the mugs four or five times.

"If well done this will have the appearance of a continued stream of liquid fire," Thomas wrote. "The novice in mixing this beverage should be careful not to scald himself."

He advised practicing with cold water first.

So far, we have not heard of a local bar serving this.

Hot buttered rum: No one can pinpoint the origins of this drink, though buttered beverages date back at least to the 16th century, when British physician Andrew Boorde prescribed buttered beer as a remedy for hoarseness. Diarist Samuel Pepys was drinking buttered ale -- not for medicinal purposes -- in 1667. It was highly popular in Colonial America, when New England was a center of rum distillation.

Traditional recipes start with a batter of butter beaten with sugar and spices, which is added by the spoonful to rum and hot water, creating a smooth, soothing drink.

Hot toddy: By now, this term, which dates back to at least the 18th century, has become generic for any hot alcoholic drink, although it most often means a sweetened mixture of liquor and hot water flavored with lemon and spices. However, "toddy" originally referred to the fermented sap of palm trees.

Irish coffee: Undoubtedly the best known hot-booze beverage today, Irish coffee was born on a cold winter evening in 1942 at Foynes Airport, the precursor to Shannon International Airport, in the west of Ireland. After some American passengers had a particularly damp, chilly trip to the terminal, chef Joe Sheridan mixed them this warmer.

In its purest form, Irish coffee is simply hot coffee mixed with sugar and a slug of Irish whiskey, with whipped cream on top. If made correctly, the softly beaten cream floats on the coffee as you sip. Modern innovations replace or enhance the whiskey with other liqueurs and/or, abominably, use heavily aerated canned whipped topping.

Mulled cider: Most Americans today think of cider as a temperate fruit juice, but historically it meant alcoholic hard cider, fermented from the juice of apples or pears. While hot spiced cider no doubt predates America, Johnny Appleseed made sure it crossed the nation and even Colonial infants were given mulled hard cider to drink -- although not, as their parents drank it, fortified with New England rum or applejack.

Today, when you find it, the cider will likely be plain fruit juice heated with spices and then spiked with anything from brandy to vodka.

Tom and Jerry: This drink, a hot variation of eggnog fortified with brandy, was enormously popular in the 19th century, when lowbrow pubs were called "Tom and Jerries." The trend continued through the 1950s, at least at holiday time. Special punch sets for serving it are now sought-after collectibles.

Some historians say the drink gets its name from 19th-century writer Pierce Egan, who's said to have mixed them to promote his 1821 book "Life of London: Or Days and Nights of Jerry Hawthorne and His Elegant Friend Corinthian Tom," while others attribute it to Gilded Age bartender Jerry Thomas, who was famous for his presentation.

Most recipes call for mixing up a batter of stiffly beaten egg whites, sugar, spices and egg yolk, then adding hot milk or water with rum and brandy at serving time.

King's Thursday wrote:My mother gave me her special Tom and Jerry punch set from the 40s or 50s, and it is one of my prized possessions.